We went to Istanbul on 16 April for five days and had a three day excursion to Bursa. While the main point of the trip was cultural, we tried to get a bit of birding in.
There are not many birds of interest in Istanbul itself apart from Laughing Doves and Alpine Swifts. Flocks of c50 Mediterranean Shearwaters were common on the Bosphorus.
Being near the Bosphorus in Spring, we had hoped for raptor migration but the wind was set cold and Northerly for the duration. One place for migration watching is the suburban hill of Küçük Çamlica (ferry + taksi). Our visit only turned up a few hundred White Storks.
There's a very cheap day trip by public ferry up the Bosphorus from Eminönü to Anadolu Kavagi. We had some hopes for the hills at this last stop but only managed a few storks and a single Lesser Spotted Eagle.
We had a driver cum (non-birding) guide for our trip to Bursa. He drove us to Kuşcenetti NP. This is a tremendous wetland but with only one observation tower. We spent a few hours there and were not disappointed. Two lifers were Dalmation Pelican (picture here) and Pygmy Cormorant. Bonuses were a wide variety and large numbers of herons and a party of Golden Orioles.
In general, the countryside seemed fairly birdless apart from flocks of House Sparrows. The usual from-the-car birds were missing - very odd.
Partial species list:
Grey Heron Ardea cinera
Squacco Ardeola ralliodes
Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Pygmy Cormorant P pygmaeus
Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus
Dalmation Pelicans Pelecanus crispus
Alpine swift Apus melba
Laughing Dove Streptopelia senegalensis
White Stork Ciconia ciconia
Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina
Mediterranean Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan
Hi Alistair
well done on Dalmatian Pelican and Pygmy Cormorant
does Green Warbler still occur at Bursa?
Tim